good food with simple ingredients

Guest Post- Falafel By Elaine From Foodbod

by apuginthekitchen on March 8, 2016

I love this photo of beautiful Elaine and her sweet Bob

I feel so very lucky to know so many lovely and talented people. When I think about some of the exceptional cooks/bloggers that have agreed to do guest posts here I am honored and so very happy to present them to all of you that stop by for a read. This blogger/cook and amazingly talented woman is one of my favorite people, she can make a die hard vegetable hater a veggie lover. Elaine’s gorgeous blog Foodbod is one that I have followed for a few years now, I love her recipes like this Middle Eastern Aubergine or her wonderful sourdough bread. She inspires with her creativty, amazes with her talent and I like to call her the vegetable whisperer, she can coax incredible flavor from the most humble of vegetables by adding a little of this and that and when she pulls that tray out of the oven you know the master has done her magic I know most of you know her and if you don’t please visit her blog and read about Elaine and how her mission to eat healthful and delicious food came about, you will love it as much as I do, I guarantee it. Take it away Elaine…..

What can I say about the lovely Suzanne that hasn’t already been said by her previous guest posters?? Nothing really, they’ve said it all so beautifully, I’ll just be repeating things..but hey, who cares?!

Suzanne is such a constant, supportive and complimentary food blogger; she always has time to visit and comment on people’s posts, and is always positive and interested in what people have cooked, asking questions, giving suggestions and being a lovely friend. And Suzanne is such a gifted cook that I always feel honoured when she likes my food, so I was happily surprised, and honoured, when she asked me if I would like to put together a guest post for her…I hope she likes it, and that her readers do too 🙂

The fact that we share a love of dogs only makes me like her more xx

I wanted to push myself and create something new for Suzanne so I bring you:

the joy of a homemade falafel mix..

Falafels are a middle eastern ‘pattie’, typically made with dried soaked chickpeas and they tend to be deep fried; they are very much middle eastern street food. I love falafels and, in particular, I love the flavours in the mix of ingredients and like applying it to other dishes. On this occasion I decided to experiment with fava beans, which are dried broad beans, in place of dried chickpeas – whichever you choose, do not use the cooked or canned versions; the success of falafels comes from using dried & soaked pulses, that all adds to their crunch. I have also oven baked my falafels which I think works well, but that’s not all, read on…

The mix:

Ingredients

250g dried split fava beans, placed in a large bowl of water and soaked overnight

1 medium red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 bunch flat leaf parsley

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cayenne pepper (optional)

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Flour of your choice as needed

Method

Wash and drain the fava beans

Put everything EXCEPT the flour in a blender and chop to a chunky crumb

At this point I stored the mixture in a wrapped bowl in the fridge and let the flavours develop, then started to make things with it over the next few days. You could use it immediately depending on your plans.

My first use of the mixture creates a lovely brunch, lunch or dinner..a falafel crunch with spinach and eggs..

Put about a quarter of the falafel mixture in a pan with melted coconut oil, over a medium heat. As you cook it, turn it all over every so often, and it becomes lovely and crunchy and browned.

Once cooked, add a handful of baby spinach leaves, and once that is cooked without becoming mushy, make some spaces in the mix and cook eggs into the mix.

A sprinkle of grated cheese finishes it all off perfectly.. I ate mine directly from the pan – saves on washing up!!

For a other idea, how about a falafel quinoa goodness bowl?

First, spoon about a quarter of the falafel mixture again into a pan with olive oil over a medium heat.

Start to cook it through then add several spoons of cooked quinoa.

Cook the mixture until the fava beans are cooked and the mixture starts to crisp slightly.

This creates a lovely dish of tasty goodness on its own, perfect for me for lunch with some homemade dips.. …

or you could use it as a side dish or in place of something like rice. Or again add some eggs to the dish, or your choice of meat or fish.

And finally..the actual falafels..

These falafels are oven baked; I’ve never deep fried my falafels so I can’t tell you how well it does or doesn’t work, but I can tell you that they are very good when baked..

A quarter of the mixture formed 6 falafels

Add 1-2 tablespoons of flour (I used spelt flour but any all purpose plain flour will do) and bring the mixture together with your hands, it will create a ‘dough’

I use a falafel press to create my patties but you could easily split the mixture into 6 and create balls then flatten them to discs

Brush olive oil on both sides and place on parchment paper on baking tray

Bake at 200C for 10 minutes then turn them all over and bake for another 10 minutes

They come out lovely and crunchy 🙂

I enjoyed mine wrapped in lettuce leaves with tahini sauce and homous.

In the Middle East falafels would typically be served in flat bread wraps with salad and tahini sauce so the lettuce formed my ‘bread’.

I hope you like my falafels and other ideas for the mix. I think it could also be utilised as a ‘crumble’ topping over a lovely dish, or as a crumb on a piece of fish or meat. The possibilities are endless!

Thank you again to Suzanne for inviting me to appear on her lovely blog, I hope you all enjoyed a bit of my world 🙂

The falafel recipes look so good. I would never have thought to use the mixture for something other than making falafels, so thanks for sharing your ideas. I think I could even get my meat eating hubby to try these, especially since they are made without using chickpeas ( the devil food he calls it).

Two amazing and supportive bloggers for sure. Thanks, Elaine and Suzanne, what a great idea featuring this wonderful post as a guest blogger! Elaine, love the British bag of organic fava beans :)Such a variety of gorgeous dishes featuring these beans. I’ve never cooked with the dry version before. I can’t wait to try all of these above recipes. Also, love the idea of the falafel patties in the lettuce leaves, I’m really trying to cut back on carbs. Great job girls, keep it up! 🙂

Thanks Elaine and Suzanne, I always feel the love when I’m on this blog and the recipes are great. I just made Suzanne ‘s madeleines and they were to die for.
Elaine, I’m a huge falafel fan and your recipe looks great but I have never seen dried split fava beans. I will look for them in my grocery stores.

I really enjoyed reading this post! The pictures are gorgeous, the preparation eye opening, and inspiring. I really knew nothing about falafel. You made me want to try cooking it and eating it. Thank you so much Elaine and Suzanne!

Hi Suzanne and Elaine. This is such a great post, and I love all the variations you have done with your falafel ‘s. I will be popping over to check out your blog, Elaine And, by the way, Bob is gorgeous. Enjoy the rest of the week 🙂

Thank you for your awesome guest post Elaine and sharing your beautiful dog with us! Any friend of Suzanne’s will be a welcome friend of mine. I’ve never tried to make falafel before, but I do love chickpeas so I’m sure this is delicious. Going to go check out your blog now.

Thank you so much Elaine and Suzanne! I love how you made the basic mixture, then showed us 3 different ways to use it! Very clever and delicious suggestions! If I wanted to make it with chickpeas, would I just swap out the fava beans for an equal amount of chickpeas? 😋

From the bottom of my heart, I agree with what Suzanne said about Elaine, and what Elaine said about Suzanne.
Elaine, I love felafel and especially what you have presented here with innovating ingredients. Just Fabulous! 🙂

I am so excited to see this! I adore falafel and have never had luck making my own. The patties/balls always fall apart. These pictures are so pretty and the falafel looks superb! I can’t wait to try. Thank you Elaine and Suzanne!

I completely agree with Suzanne and Elaine. Both have said almost the same things I would have wanted to say about them. Lovely ladies👍👍
I have been wanting to make Falafel for a long time now but I am afraid they would turn out dry and hard like i tasted somewhere. When this recipe is Elaine certified I am sure it will be delicious. Thank you for sharing ☺

Not only do the falafels look lovely (and healhty) I love the idea of the mix. I would never have thought of all the other uses and never would have thought of the idea even, of other uses. Truly creative! And I second everything about Suzanne!

Ditto all of your comments about Suzanne, Elaine! She is one of the most beautiful, genuine bloggers out there. One of the most consistently supportive since I started my own blogging journey several years ago, too. So nice to ‘meet’ you via this guest post. I adore falafel, I do make my own already but I’d love to try your recipe for comparison. I love the adaptability of your mix, and the use of fava beans instead of chickpeas (which is what I usually use). Super delicious photos and awesome notes. Definitely going to make good use of your recipe Elaine!!!

Hi Laura, lovely to meet you too 😀 there’s been so much love in all of the comments on this post, which I believe is a real reflection of our lovely Suzanne ❤️
Thank you for your kind words about my recipe/s, I hope you like the outcome x

Wow, I never falafel could be transformed in such delicious ways, Elaine! I love falafel (traditional kind from Middle Eastern restaurants)… looks like it may be time to try my hand at your homemade version. Love the falafel quinoa bowl especially!

A Pug In The Kitchen

Fiesta Friday

Four Seasons Food Challenge

About Us

Did you know you can write your own about section just like this one? It's really easy. Navigate to Appearance → Widgets and create a new Text Widget. Now move it to the Footer 1 sidebar.

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.